Coca-Cola’s AI Holiday Ad Sparks Backlash Online

Coca-Cola’s new AI-powered holiday commercial just dropped — and it’s… awkward.

The brand that once defined Christmas advertising with its iconic “Holidays Are Coming” trucks has gone full generative AI — but this year’s ad feels more like a visual experiment than a holiday celebration. The animation shifts wildly between realism and cartoonish chaos, with animals that move like 2D cutouts and polar bears that look anything but cuddly.

If last year’s AI-generated campaign raised eyebrows for its uncanny faces and static wheels, this one just pushes the confusion further.
Sure, the truck wheels finally turn this time — progress! — but the spirit feels artificial, almost empty.

The company reportedly collaborated again with Silverside and Secret Level, two AI studios behind its 2024 campaigns. According to The Wall Street Journal, around 100 people contributed to the ad, including five “AI specialists” who prompted and refined over 70,000 AI-generated clips.

Yet despite the manpower, the final result looks like something AI itself might disown.
You can watch the full “Holidays Are Coming” campaign here.

The bigger issue isn’t just aesthetic — it’s emotional. Coca-Cola’s past holiday ads tapped into nostalgia, community, and wonder. They felt human. This one feels like a simulation of emotion: familiar imagery without warmth.

That’s the paradox of AI in creative work — the faster it gets, the more soul it risks losing.

Coca-Cola’s Chief Marketing Officer, Manolo Arroyo, admits the new approach is faster and cheaper. What used to take a year of production now takes a month. That might please shareholders, but what about the audience?

Even Google’s own AI-generated ad campaign this year faced similar criticism. Viewers noticed what brands often miss — that emotion can’t be machine-rendered.
And as Forbes points out, this isn’t Coke’s first AI blunder. Earlier this year, the company ran an ad featuring a fake book by author J.G. Ballard — invented entirely by AI.

So why keep doing it?
Because speed and cost now matter more than craftsmanship. Because “AI-generated” has become a badge of innovation, even when the results feel hollow.

Coca-Cola is betting that consumers don’t care how ads are made — as long as they look good enough. But here’s the thing: people do care. They may not say it, but they feel it.

Advertising was never about perfection. It was about connection. And connection isn’t something you can prompt into existence.

Maybe AI can write the scripts, generate the frames, and sync the sound. But it can’t replicate the small human imperfection that makes a Christmas moment feel real.

Coca-Cola’s latest ad isn’t a failure of technology. It’s a reminder that creativity without humanity is just production.

Watch the full “Holidays Are Coming” ad and decide for yourself.
Read more via Forbes or Fortune.